What is Plan for Mount Vernon Trail under Wilson Bridge & Royal St. Access?

[GreyBear]

I don’t like the plan either. It appears from the map that S. Royal Street will be closed off between the school and the bridge, paved over, and recycling bins placed in what was the roadway.

[PotomacCyclist]

Couldn’t you just take that access road from Royal St. to the trail? It also looks like there are many direct paved connections from Royal St. to the parking lots and the MVT. I think all of the dark gray areas will be paved asphalt. This is just my interpretation of what I’m seeing on the map. The cars would need to access the parking spaces under the bridge from Royal St. I doubt there will be a barrier between the street and the parking lots. The barrier seems to be located to the south of the bridge. There are no indications of a barrier between Royal St. and the park.

[paulg]

The sketch shows the parking as a ‘secure’ area. Not sure what that means. Will be it removable bollards that we can ride through or a chain link fence? All very uncertain in my mind.

Has WABA been involved in any of this?

[paulg]

I posted last week about construction work ongoing at Jones Point park under the Wilson Bridge on the VA side and how it might affect the MVT. The sketch on the website does not show a clear route from South Royal Street under the bridge to the trails on the South Side.

I emailed Jack Browand, CPRP, Division Chief – City of Alexandria – Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities and he got back to me within 30 mins to say this:

‘There will remain a connector under the bridge on Royal St.

Following construction, the surface will be replaced. There will not be vehicle traffic under the bridge.

We are anticipating the installation of permanent lighting under the bridge within the next 3-4 months.

Jack’

Sounds pretty good to me!

[paulg]

In addition to Jack Browand’s reply (see post above) I got another very prompt email from Jonathan Jacobsen, P.E. Executive Project Manager – Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project Potomac Crossing Consultants who repeated Jack’s response with a few more details.

‘Paul,

I’m delighted to hear from you – and to give you a very simple answer: Yes.

The ‘official’ Mt Vernon Trail route will run as you see on the alternative A schematic. There will also be a defined and maintained pathway from the trail, under the bridge, and to S. Royal St .

The pathway will basically consist of an extension of S. Royal St . , with a bit of a ‘bump out’ onto the alignment over the existing west sidewalk to accommodate a movable vehicle barrier. The movable barrier will be installed across S. Royal St , approximately at the south edge of the new cul-de-sac we’ve constructed for vehicles to turn around and to access the recycling bins. The bins will be moved to the new concrete pad we’ve built for them soon.

You may experience some minor shifts and detours while we complete all this work.’

[Author]

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